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English compilation of Meena Kumari’s poetry offers peak into real-life tragedies of a woman who made many cry.
Although Kumari, who was dubbed the ‘Tragedy Queen’, has fans who admire her for more than just her stint as an actor, her poetry suggests that she felt she was dispensable beyond that. The theme of emptiness defines her poems in the book Meena Kumari The Poet: A Life Beyond Cinema; a sense of hollowness that is more self-indulgent than self-expressive prevails throughout the text, leaving little to cherish for a reader who is a poetry fan. Her fans, however, will find another reason to fall in love with her after reading this book.
Translated by Noorul Hasan, the compilation comprises around 50 poems translated in English placed along with their original Urdu versions. This takes away from the immersed experience of reading poetry as you are forced to read in a language that it was not originally expressed in.
Then, there is a sense of casualness and informality associated with Urdu words written in English text and someone who is used to reading both will find it difficult to consider it as a serious reading. It could work as a coffee table book, though.
Prior to the poetry section, there is an engaging chapter titled Poetry versus Cinema: Meena Kumari as a Critic of Popular Culture, which is written by Philip Bounds and Daisy Hasan. It sheds light on Kumari’s journey of turning into a poet and how any account of her life cannot be complete without a correlation between her films and poems.
“Her readers are free to respond to her poems according to their own interests, beliefs and prejudices. Some will seek to relate them to a wider tradition of writing by Indian women. Others will be fascinated by their debt to what critics now tend to call ‘Islamicate’ literature. What we want to suggest here is that no account of Kumari’s life and work can be entirely adequate unless it encompasses the relationship between poem and films,” states an excerpt from the chapter.
It further elaborates about her journey as a poet, “Time and again, she portrayed characters whose intense romantic longing swelled to almost demonic proportions and brought nothing but suffering in their wake. Irritated by the sense that the Indian public saw her simply as ‘Tragedy Queen’, Kumari began to write poetry in Urdu in an effort to evoke the subtler elements of her sensitive and questing sensibility.”
Despite the shallowness of her ideas and juvenility of expression, the book is a peak into the real-life tragedies of a woman who made many cry with her performances on the reel. Gulzar’s tribute to Kumari, also published in the same book, sums up everything we know about the on-screen and off-screen worlds of the artiste. “Meena… closed her eyes and went to sleep, bidding life adieu! Never once did she breathe thereafter. After a trying life, full of struggle and strife, wasn’t it a remarkably stark and easy death!”
COMMENTS (3)
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Meena Kumari died in 1972 not 1977.Kindly correct the same.
Mahjabeen (Meena Kumari) was not only a poet but also recited poetry using her screen voice to a great effect. Her last cassette (also a CD) called ‘I write I recite’ was a pleasure to listen to. Chaand tanha hai asmaan tanha……. rah dekheyga sadiyon tak chhor jayengey jahaan tanha.
A great actor whose personal loneliness was visible through her acting, left a void in the hearts of many of her fans.
I think I have respect for her. Not only she was exceptional beauty but her beauty was enhanced more by her intellect in writing, singing, acting. So rare for any one person especially for a women. I don’t know why people don’t realize the qualities of a rare women. People should know that it’s extremely rare for a women to be not only beautiful but also full of intellect and talent in multiple arts.
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
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Meena Kumari died in 1972 not 1977.Kindly correct the same.
Mahjabeen (Meena Kumari) was not only a poet but also recited poetry using her screen voice to a great effect. Her last cassette (also a CD) called ‘I write I recite’ was a pleasure to listen to. Chaand tanha hai asmaan tanha……. rah dekheyga sadiyon tak chhor jayengey jahaan tanha.
A great actor whose personal loneliness was visible through her acting, left a void in the hearts of many of her fans.
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I think I have respect for her. Not only she was exceptional beauty but her beauty was enhanced more by her intellect in writing, singing, acting. So rare for any one person especially for a women. I don’t know why people don’t realize the qualities of a rare women. People should know that it’s extremely rare for a women to be not only beautiful but also full of intellect and talent in multiple arts.